Burning Wheel vs Pathfinder
Compare Burning Wheel and Pathfinder side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Burning Wheel | Pathfinder | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Roleplay-Heavy, Character Building, Drama, Low-Fantasy, Social Combat | Tactical, Crunchy, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Dungeon Crawl, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s (ability exponent = number of dice). 4+ counts as a success. Meet or exceed the obstacle number. Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits earn artha rewards. | Roll d20 + modifier against a DC. Four degrees of success: critical success (beat DC by 10+), success, failure, and critical failure (miss by 10+). Each turn grants three actions to spend freely on strikes, movement, spellcasting, or other activities. Multi-attack penalty (-5/-10) discourages repeated strikes and encourages tactical variety. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d20 |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | ORC |
| Cost | $$ | Free (ORC) |
| Publisher | BWHQ | Paizo |
| Year | 2011 | 2023 |
| Best For | Groups who want character beliefs and drama to mechanically drive play, with deep subsystems that reward mastery. | Groups who want deep character customization, tactical grid combat with meaningful turn-by-turn decisions, and a richly detailed fantasy setting with free rules. |
| Highlights | Beliefs mechanically drive play, skills advance through use, Duel of Wits and Fight subsystems offer detailed resolution | The three-action economy gives every turn the same three actions to spend on strikes, movement, or spells, so each turn is a fresh tactical decision. Characters customize through ancestry, class, skill, and general feats gained at nearly every level, letting builds diverge sharply within a single class. Four degrees of success, set by beating or missing the DC by 10, turn each roll into a range of outcomes rather than a binary result. |
| Considerations | Steep learning curve, meant to be played as written (not hackable), print availability limited | New players must learn the trait system, conditions, and four degrees of success before combat runs smoothly. Multi-attack penalty and numerous combat actions can slow turns for indecisive players. Character creation draws feats from ancestry, class, skill, and general pools at every level, making each build a slow step. |